CHENNAI: Eighteen years after allegedly murdering his employer, a 60-year-old lorry driver was arrested from Rajasthan by Tiruvallur police here on Thursday. “Dewar Singh (44), a lorry owner based in Tiruvallur, was beaten inside the lorry cabin at Gummidipoondi in October, 2000. Lorry driver Abdul Saleem, who was then 42, and lorry cleaner Premchand (25), who attacked Dewar Singh, later pushed him along the roadside and torched his body alive, dumping dry banana tree barks on the body. They then fled from the spot,” said an investigation officer.
After the passers-by saw the body, they alerted the police who arrived at the spot. A case was registered by the Gummidipoondi SIPCOT police in connection with the incident. A few days later, the police nabbed Premchand and remanded him. However, Abdul Saleem was still on the run.
The newly appointed Tiruvallur district Superintendent of Police R Ponni recently reviewed the pending case and instructed the officers to nab the absconding suspect.
The special team nabbed Abdul Saleem, who turned 60 recently, from a hideout in Rajasthan. Preliminary inquiries revealed that Saleem had gone into hiding near Pakistan border to escape police arrest for the past several years.
As the police ignored the case, he returned to his native village and was employed in a transport company. Police team brought him from Rajasthan to Gummidipoondi and he was remanded in prison.